When you’re backpacking around the world, you’re guaranteed to meet people from all walks of life. Some end up becoming your lifelong friends and others may not always be your cup of tea. Either way, you come across lots of different personalities when backpacking. We’ve decided to round up the 18 different types of people you’ll meet on your travels. Which category do you fit in to?
THE PARTY ANIMAL
You are either a party animal or you’re not. If you’re the latter, you try and stay away from them. The party animals are always good fun at the start of the night but they always take it too far and end up vomiting outside the hostel - or even worse, inside the dorm room! They’re loud, they’re carefree and they love to drink! We all let out the inner party animal inside of us sometimes, but these guys are up for it every single day and don’t get bored of the hangover.
THE CUTE OLD COUPLE
You’ll probably meet the 60-65 year old couple on a group tour or at a cultural sight - and they end up being lovely company. They remind you of your grandparents back at home so you take an instant liking to them and become friends on Facebook where they will like your photos for the next 2 years.
THE REP WHO GETS INTO ROMANCES
There’s always that hot rep who gets into temporary relationships or love triangles. He’s usually a guy - and he’s probably bad news. Girls go for him anyway and end up hating him when he snogs the 19 year old at the club right in front of you.
THE CHILL ONE
The easygoing person on the trip who goes with the flow. Everyone gets on with the chill one. The chill one is happy to do anything and everything which makes them a fantastic travel buddy - as long as their stomach is full. When they’re hungry they lose the chill.
THE MESS
The mess is a liability. They lose their passport, forget their euros back in the room, get lost, wake up late and miss the tour bus: you get the picture. It’s good to be over-organised if you’re travelling with The Mess. But without The Mess, you’d be short of funny travel memories to look back on (that they never fail to provide.)
THE SPIRITUAL ONE
The spiritual one is travelling to find themselves. They are passionate about sustainability and saving the planet. They do yoga, they’re most likely vegan or vegetarian and they like to hang out with other spiritual folk and do spiritual things. They like being by the water and getting into holiday romances.
THE POSHIE
The poshie is either on a Gap Year or taking a few weeks or months out of work to travel. If they run out of money, it’s no biggie, they’ll just whip out dad’s emergency credit card. The poshies will be travelling with their poshie friends that they made at private school. They like to ski, drink gin or whiskey and enjoy partying at the nicer bars and clubs.
THE INDEPENDENT SOLO TRAVELLER
The most knowledgeable person you’ll meet while travelling. The independent solo traveller has been touring the globe for a pretty long time, doing it all alone. Super brave. He/she has all the best recommendations and backpacking advice. A cool friend to make and very street smart. They’re spontaneous, fun and sociable, always up for an adventure!
THE TAGALONG SOLO TRAVELLER
Then there’s the other kind of solo traveller. The tagalong. They attach themselves to a new group and cling on until the group get annoyed with them because they’re usually a little strange or annoying.
THE BLOGGER
The first sign that someone’s a blogger: they are constantly on their phone or laptop. The blogger is always tapping away at their keyboard writing their blog, filming something or taking pictures at almost every opportunity. Don’t be surprised if they ask you to take a photo of them in front of things for their thoroughly thought-out Instagram feed. Ask them how many followers they have, you may be amidst an Instagram celeb! They will also have a portable adaptor on them.
THE FUN COUPLE
You’re bound to meet a cool couple on your trip. They’re both super nice and friendly - and don’t mind being apart or getting involved in group activities. In fact, they’re happy to socialise and make new friends without being stuck to each other’s hips.
THE BORING COUPLE
Then there’s the couple who alienate themselves from everyone. They can’t be without each other, not even for a second. They’re happy to keep themselves to themselves but sicken everyone at the same time with regular PDA.
LADS/GIRLS ON TOUR
They arrive at the hostel thinking they’re the life and soul of the party, but actually everyone is just wishing they would all shut up. It’s not normal for them to venture away from their posse or let anyone into their clique (unless you’re really, really hot). They might even go as far as buying matching personalised T-shirts for the trip.
THE COCKY LAD
Often seen swanning around in a low scoop vest and a backwards cap, the cocky lad has come away to cause trouble, and a lot of the time he’s travelling solo. The thing is he’s not actually that interested in travelling, he’s just here to try and flirt with the girls and fight with the guys that get in his way.
THE BITCHY BEST FRIENDS
They stick together and aren’t interested in making friends. They gossip about everyone in their group thinking that they’re better than them - but in reality, the rest of the group think they are the weird ones.
THE NICE BEST FRIENDS
On the other hand, you always end up meeting two really cool best friends, who will invite your group to hang out with them...
THE ‘MUM’
You can tell who the Mum is from a mile off, because she/he and The Mess go hand in hand. They’re always in charge of the itinerary, always hold onto the tickets, are constantly checking that everyone is present and have the biggest rucksack out of their friends by far. Had a few too many drinks? The Mum will hold your hair back. Lost your money? The Mum will lend you hers. The Mum is your most reliable travel buddy - just make sure they let their hair down every now and then! The mum also organised the whole trip.
THE ONE WITH A LANGUAGE BARRIER
But it’s okay, you manage to communicate with them with Google translate instead!